By Thomas J. O’Connor
When a business grows or makes a significant change, it often faces new and unexpected legal issues. In the beginning, a start-up may not have enough time or money to deal with anything other than survival. But an established business may emerge from the shadows and not only generate attention from customers, it may also be noticed by competitors who want to “steal” their ideas.
As they expand, businesses need to become more familiar with esoteric things like intellectual property (IP) rights. You know you’re dealing with intellectual property rights when you’re asking questions like:
- Am I using someone else’s company name or product name?
- Is someone else using mine?
- Where did my employee get the idea for that new service or product? Is it protected?
- How can I keep our ideas and innovations from walking out the door?
- Do we have anything new that must be protected?
These issues may arise during a time of company growth and they are not likely to go away. What they have in common is that they must now become part of a regular process. The business should have a regular system in place to monitor and review these issues when there are changes in the market, changes in personnel and changes in the law.
Specifically, there are a number of things that can be done. Some are quick and easy, some are not. Here are a few suggestions:
- It is easy to regularly do a www.google.com search of your own business and see what comes up. You may be surprised by some other business with a similar name. With a bit more effort, one can also search registered trademarks on-line at www.uspto.gov. Someone may have registered a trademark which is similar to your name.
- Make sure that all of your key employees have signed confidentiality agreements. Michigan courts regularly rule that they will not protect someone’s trade secrets from theft unless they have taken steps to protect themselves.
- Give your company a self-exam for IP protection. Do you have enough protection in place? Have you investigated whether your employees “borrowed” technology from someone else, like a former employer? Has there been any significant changes in products, services or personnel that suggest a fresh look?
IP is certainly an area where an ounce of protection is worth a pound of cure.
For further information regarding these matters, please contact Mr. O’Connor at 248.740.5691 or
click here to send an email.
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